Narratives
Narrative A narrative is one of many types of writing genres. There are many writing elements that come together to make a narrative. All narratives have the same basic structure to follow. They tell a short story while finding a way to prove a point in the paper. A narrative should have an obvious tone and use all the other rhetorical situations. Structure Every narrative has a clear structure. A narrative has an obvious beginning middle and end. The beginning includes the rising action building up the background and setting up the climax of the story. The middle should reach the climax where the point comes out. This is where the main part of the story is written. The end should slowly bring the author back down from the climax. The ending doesn’t necessarily need a resolution because not all narratives have a problem but should wrap up the story. Vivid Details Within the structure of a narrative an author must use vivid details. Vivid details help the author show the reader instead of telling them a story. Being very descriptive helps the author grab the reader’s attention and makes the narrative more interesting. The essay “A Culinary Field Trip” gives very vivid details throughout the narrative. One example from the essay is the detail “The stainless steel tables gleam in the low light awaiting their brushing, awaiting many students to pound, smash, toss, decorate, and most importantly, create”. By being very descriptive and using intriguing adjectives an author can make the story of a narrative more interesting and help the reader create a mental image of the story in his/her head. See Narrative 2 Purpose A narrative’s purpose is to prove the author’s point over a short story or sequence of events. The story can be fictional or a part of the author’s life. Its point should be clear, precise, and easy to figure out throughout the story. Some authors make the point of their story a lesson they learned sometime throughout their life. In most narratives the point of the story had an impact on the writer’s life or decisions they decided to make. For example in the Crimson Quill 3rd edition, the essay named “Saying Goodbye to a Stranger” the author’s purpose of the story is to show the audience that just a couple words can have a lasting effect on someone throughout their whole life. In the story she talks about how someone in her life barely talked to her but made one of the biggest impressions on her. A fictional narrative can also prove a point that the author was influenced by in real life. The author could choose to create a fictional story to make the narrative overall more interesting. Either way a narrative must have a clear point in the story whether it’s fiction or nonfiction. See Narrative 2 Tone The tone should set the mood of the narrative. When writing a narrative an author can use different writing strategies to convey the tone of their writing. Authors express their tone in a narrative by using figurative language or changing the word choice of the narrative. The author can also show his tone just by what point of view they select. The author’s choice of tone decides how they want to convey the story and easily change the way they use their tone. Created by: Tanner Solarczyk References http://classroom.synonym.com/narrative-tone-1888.html Lunsford, Andrea, Michael Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly J. Moss, Carole Clark Papper, Keith Walters.'' Everyone’s an Author with Readings. ''New York: Norton, 2013. ''The Crimson Quill, ''edited and produced by a group of PhD candidates in IUP’s Composition/TESOL program